Tag Archives: Martha Wells

Book seven in Martha Wells’ phenomenal The Murderbot Diaries series, System Collapse follows on closely after the events of Network Effect, with Murderbot having to deal with ever-increasing numbers of awkward humans and some especially uncomfortable emotions. With the alien remnant infection largely dealt with, the combined group of ART’s university crew and the Preservation team have turned their attention to safeguarding the remaining colonists, attempting to persuade them not to agree to any shady ‘contracts’ offered by the ruthless Barish-Estranza corporates. The problem is, Murderbot’s traumatic alien remnant experiences have resulted in a noticeable drop in performance, which isn’t ideal…especially considering Barish-Estranza have their own SecUnits and aren’t afraid to play dirty.

After four excellent novellas, Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries series gets its first novel-length instalment with Network Effect, which offers everything that makes this series so much fun…just more of it! Their research mission completed with only one minor incident of life-threatening drama, Murderbot and its human charges return to Preservation space, only to come under attack from a mysterious enemy ship. When several of its humans – including members of Dr Mensah’s family – are kidnapped during the attack, Murderbot puts its media consumption aside and goes immediately on the offensive. Passing through a wormhole and encountering both suspiciously alien-like enemies and the unexpected presence of an old sort-of-friend, Murderbot quickly finds that the situation is stranger and much more uncomfortable than it could possibly have expected.